Over 3,000 families were displaced due to flash floods in the Northern districts of Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu. The heavy rainfall (250mm) on 21-22 December, damaged crops and disrupted the livelihoods of agriculture dependent families.

Last week in South and Southeast Asia, reported fatalities from political violence increased slightly, while instances of targeted civilian violence sharply declined as part of a visible trend since the last week of December 2018. Key developments included ongoing militant violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan, a significant eruption of labour demonstrations in India and Bangladesh, as well as demonstrations in Thailand over a likely delay in the upcoming February elections.

The Framework for Collective Impact in Peacebuilding, first published in 2017 was field-tested in partnership with Search for Common Ground in Jos, Nigeria, and Colombo, Sri Lanka. CDA provided technical support toward the development of locally driven, multi-stakeholder collective impact networks targeting local-level conflicts. Both networks in Nigeria and Sri Lanka are in their infancy and in varying stages of evolution toward becoming fully fledged collective impact networks.

This is the first IOM Regional Data Report on Asia and the Pacific. This statistical product highlights the complex migration trends that characterize this region of the world. The report is predominantly based on IOM primary data collection activities and covers the whole 2017 and the first six months of 2018.

This monthly digest comprises threats and incidents of violence as well as protests and other events affecting education.

It is prepared by Insecurity Insight from information available in open sources.
All decisions made, on the basis of, or with consideration to, such information remains the responsibility of their respective organisations.

On 02 January, Kilinochchi District Government ended its mobile medical service in Kilinochchi as most of the evacuation centers have closed. St. John Ambulance Sri Lanka, which had been working jointly with AMDA since the onset of the flooding, also decided to stop its relief assistance accordingly. AMDA decided to continue relief activities for the affected people after going back to their home.

The Red Cross Red Crescent across the Asia Pacific region and in the Middle East have been helping people prepare for and cope with damaging extreme seasonal-weather – ranging from extreme cold and snow to storms and flash floods.

Most recently the ICRC in Lebanon yesterday tweeted that Storm Norma had left almost 600 Syrian refugee families in Aarsal, in the north-east of the country, one of the worst affected areas, without bread or fuel for heating.

In 2017, Sri Lanka experienced one of its worst droughts in over four decades. This was the culmination of five consecutive years of dry weather during the country’s main crop production season. Drought hit the northern Dry Zone especially hard, causing significant reductions in the production of rice, a central pillar of national food security.

On 31st December 2018, the second relief team, consisting of AMDA Sri Lanka, St. John Ambulance Sri Lanka and the AMDA nurse, arrived at Kilinochchi, a northern province of Sri Lanka. (Kilinochchi is one of the worst-affected districts by flooding and where the first team had conducted relief activities.)

Due to the incessant rain which prevailed in the Northern part of Sri Lanka, many people were displaced and were housed in temporary shelters. People living in flood affected areas lost their homes and livelihoods as well. According to reports over 100,000 people were affected.